Saturday 3/06/2017 - Hermanus to Capetown

We had a bit of a sleep in as breakfast wasn't till 7:30am. We packed our tent for the last time and enjoyed our last meal from the mobile kitchen, another huge breakfast of bacon, boiled eggs, baked beans, toast and avocado plus David had cereal with yoghurt as well.

Sandile took us of the main boring N2 road along the winding coastal road. The scenery was again spectacular and reminded us of the NSW south coast and the road between L.A. and San Francisco.
We went around False Bay where we stopped for a nature break and a quick walk at a campground. This is one place we would not want to go swimming.

It was a short drive in to Capetown passing Table mountain towering over the city in full view. We were dropped off near the waterfront and said our goodbyes to everyone. We caught a taxi to our hostel which is the place our next tour leaves from, located in Gardens close to the mountain. We checked into our room at 2 pm but unfortunately by this time the clouds had rolled in and covered the mountain. It is known as the table cloth.

View of table mountain from the bedroom window!

We were planning on catching the cable car to the top of table mountain but as the weather had turned bad and we wouldn't have been able to see anything we decided to do some house keeping instead. So we spent the afternoon paying bills doing our washing and repacking our bags.

We met up with Ian and Sim for a drink at the Dubliner and ended up spending the evening playing cards, drinking and watching Real Madrid beat Juventis in the UAFA champions league grand final.

We snapped this picture on the walk back up Long Street to our hostel, the South African Flag painted on the whole side of a building at the beginning of Kloof Street.

Friday 2/06/2017 - Swellendam to Hermanus

Cold start to the day but the lovely sun rose to warm us up as we drove approx 100km to our first stop of the day, the southern most point of Africa - Cape Agulhas. The rugged coastline is where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet and has been a graveyard for many ships. Here we saw South Africa's second oldest lighthouse (1848) then walked along a meandering boardwalk to the marker for the southernmost point of Africa.

We drove towards Hermanus passing many vineyards along the way. We stopped off for a wine tasting at RAKA vineyards and tasted a 1/2 dozen wines. They specialise in reds and we purchased a limited edition Cabernet Sauvignon that we may bring home if we dont drink it along our journey.

We stopped for an hour in the pretty seaside town of Hermanus for lunch. Others on the trip spotted dolphins along the shore. This place is famous for whale watching as the Southern right whales calve nearby.

After lunch we had a second wine tasting at wine village where we sampled another six wines from around South Africa. None of them really took our fancy except for the "port".

We headed for our campsite where we set up our tents for the last time on this leg of the trip. Once our home was in order we set off on a walk along the seaside path. There are many holiday homes in this area as it is only an hours drive from Capetown. 

We also managed to spot a blue heron on the rocks and get a picture of it before a dog scared it off.

We headed out to Hermanus for dinner at Burgundy restaurant for our final group dinner. Cat had a seafood platter for $25 and it was delicious.

Thursday 1/06/2017 - Oudtshoorn to Swellendam

Woke up to a cold morning and decided to wear our keen sandals for a change. After about an hour in the bus we needed to put our hiking boots on to warm up our feet. Stopped at a petrol station to fill up the truck and we all went straight into Steers restaurant for either a coffee or hot chocolate. Cat managed to get of a photo Cape Weaver.

Next stop of the day was Ronnies Sex Shop. It was a small bar in the middle of nowhere where people have hung their bra and undies everywhere. Also the walls were covered with writings/graffiti from travellers passing by. Being early morning we didn't stop to get a drink, we just looked around, Marie and Sim wrote something on the wall near the bathrooms.

We travelled along a scenic section of road enjoying the mountain landscape. There has recently been a large fire and most of the vegetation was dead exposing the brittle rocky slopes. We drove through a historic pass built in the 1870s and stopped at a view point to take some photos.

We had a quick stop at Swellendam Superspar for lunch then we were back in the truck for the drive to our next campsite. Unfortunately for the next 2 hrs Sandile and Gibson were lost once again first heading down the main road to Capetown then down a dirt road to nowhere. Finally they found the campsite which was appropriately named - Up The Creek Camping. We all had a laugh.

Our group activity was rafting so we changed into swimwear and boarded a 4WD ute for the drive to starting point. Once there we boarded the rafts for the 2 hr journey down the river. It was pleasant being on the water albeit a bit chilly but you acclimatised and at it was sunny so our bodies were warm. The area has not had decent rain for almost a year so the water in the river is very low. At each set of rapids we had to walk the rafts over the rocks.

At the end of the day Catriona got her way and We upgraded from our basic tent to a lovely little chalet with fine views for R70 about $7.00. This was a good decision as those that did set up tents experienced folding then away soaking wet from the heavy overnight due conditions.

Enjoying the bush TV (campfire) 

Wednesday 31/05/2017 - Tsitsikamma N.P to Oudtshoorn

Hi 

We stopped in the beautiful marina of Knysna Quays beside to do some window shopping. Catriona managed to buy some stretchy pants that were made in Lesotho - good timing as she had to throw out her ripped hiking pants that were purchased in Argentina back in 2008.

After that short break we followed the stunning coastline of beaches and mountain landscapes before ascending Outeniqua Pass. We stopped half way up to take a photo of the old road through the mountain which is now a national monument.

There was a dramatic change in vegetation when we made it over the pass changing from dense vegetation to sparse rocky vegetation. We passed by lots of ostrich farms as Oudtshoorn used to be the ostrich capital of the world.

We set up our tents at Klienplass Resort at lunch time then face timed Chris and Bernie. Was great to catch them 1.30pm our time 9.30pm their time. 

In the afternoon we visited the Cango Caves. We went into the 4 main chambers of the caves to view stunning limestone formations which have taken millions of years to form. The tour was split into 2 groups - 1 for English translation and 1 for German translation. We were lucky to only have 16 in our group as the other group had over 40 German tourists from a mega coach tour. Our guide was also informative and entertaining.

Cleopatras needle

On our way back to camp Sandile stopped by the side of the road so we could take some pictures of ostriches, the adults and baby ostriches were in seperate fields.

Once back at camp Gibson on the left and Sandile (our fantastic leaders) posed for a couple of photos and Catriona (an official birder) also posed for a photo with her new book.

We then all helped with dinner. We enjoyed butternut pumpkin soup, pap (maize) with peanut butter cabbage, cream corn filled squash, marinated beef cooked over hot coals and sautéed vegetables. It was delicious. Finished the night toasting marshmallows over the hot coals talking all things politics. Another great day in Africa.

Tuesday 30/05/2017 - Tsitsikamma N.P

Today was a rest day and as a result we all decided to sleep in and have breakfast later at 8.30am. Everyone pitched in to cook breakfast so we had full stomachs to start our days activities. The last 2 nights we have had camp fires so we decided to wash all our smokey clothes in the commercial washing machine before breakfast.

We walked the 1km mouth trail to a suspension bridge which gave us excellent views into the Storms River canyon.

We had a lovely lunch at a local restaurant over looking the huge waves that were crashing into the rocky out crops. Here we used their slow WIFI to update the last 5 days. We will continue to write our daily journal in draft and post when we have connectivity. 

In the afternoon Ian, Sim, Marie and us did the 3km hike to a waterfall. We had to negotiate large rock boulders that had fallen from the cliff face. Sandile said it would be a difficult challenging walk and it was, as a result Catriona brought a first aid kit just in case anything happened. Half way along we stopped to view guano cave and just over 1hr we finally made it to the waterfall. The waterfall wasn't the greatest but the walk itself was well worth it with fine coast views and the constant pounding surf against the rocks was amazing.

We had another fine dinner provided by the mobile kitchen, Sandile and Gibson cooked fish over hot coals and served it with mash and vegetables. On this trip we are really eating well 'home' cooked meals every day. Beats eating out each day in restaurants.

Another starry night with clear skies overhead and the sound of crashing surf sending us to sleep.

Monday 29/05/2017 - Addo national park to Tsitsikamma National park

Third day in the row of 5:30am wake up so that we could pack up and head out for a game drive before exiting the park. We saw quite a few different birds, a jackal, warthogs with egrets following them around, a tortoise and some monkeys on a car. We also saw many more elephants which we stopped to look at for quite a while. 

We tried to exit the park at the other end from which we had entered however they had changed the rules in April and our guides did not know so we were behind the eight ball in terms of time as we had to drive all the way back through the park to exit.

On the way we were stopped by a huge male elephant blocking the road. Gibson was driving and managed to slowly edge our way past. When we were half way past the elephant decided to turn around and check us out. Catriona was on the side of the truck passing the elephant and was only a meter away from its face. It was quite scary and we were glad we had the windows closed.

The rest of the day was a long drive to our next destination stopping a few times for rest breaks. One which was to walk over the Storm river bridge with its spectacular view down the gorge.

We arrived at the camp site in the late afternoon, set up our tents overlooking the rough Indian Ocean and relaxed around the campfire with a few drinks in the evening.

Sunday 28/05/2017 - Cintsa to Addo Elephant National Park

Packed up tents in the dark and had breakfast then headed off down the N1 for the morning drive to our next destination

Along the way to Addo elephant national park we saw a huge male lion and zebras but were unable to stop to take a photo but at least we have now seen the big five. We checked into the camp, set up our tents and headed off for an afternoon game drive.

First up we saw elands then a few herds of elephants. There were cute baby elephants that stayed close to their mothers. We saw the large flightless dung beetle which you are not allowed to run over. We also saw zebras, warthogs (Pumba), kudus and many birds including the cape weaver (picture below), speckled mousebird, southern fiscal and ostriches.

We all climbed out of the truck at our own risk to have a picture with the sign that gave us great views over the park.

On our way back to camp we were extremely lucky to see an aardvark, Sandile had never seen one and Gibson had only seen one once as they are nocturnal.

Back at the campsite we relaxed with a couple of drinks playing uno and Catriona helped prepare dinner. After dinner we sat around the campfire and chatted and could hear jackals calling out to each other in the distance.